Four of the seven organizations that announced intentions to establish charter schools in the 2020-21 school year have now followed with full applications to the Arkansas Department of Education.
The applications for new schools in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Bentonville and Winslow are subject to review and action by the state's Charter Authorizing Panel beginning in August. Ultimately the proposed schools are subject to approval by the Arkansas Board of Education.
All four of the proposed schools can be approved by the state without exceeding the current state-imposed cap of 34 charter schools. As of March 1 this year, there were 26 active open-enrollment charter schools or systems and one more is approved for opening in the coming school year -- Premier High School-North Little Rock.
The four proposed open-enrollment charter schools are:
• Dr. Lloyd C. Elam Academy of Excellence and Innovation, North Little Rock.
• Hope Academy of Northwest Arkansas in Bentonville.
• Keyper Academy of Excellence in Little Rock.
• Winslow Community School.
Open-enrollment charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently of traditional school districts. The schools are granted waivers of some state rules and laws in return for greater accountability in regard to student achievement. Charters or contracts with the state are initially granted for five years but can be renewed for terms of up to 20 years.
The proposed Elam Academy, at a site yet to be determined in North Little Rock, would serve as many as 400 students in grades six through 12, starting with 200 sixth-through-eighth-graders in the 2020-21 school year and growing by a grade and 50 students per year.
Phyllis Nichols of Sherwood is listed as the contact for the Transforming Life Ministries Care Center that would be the not-for-profit sponsor of the academy named for Lloyd C. Elam. Elam was an Arkansas native and a psychiatrist who served as president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., from 1968 to 1981. He pushed for educators and community members to find and ignite the spark for learning in every student.
To create a culture of excellence and innovation, the academy will foster academic rigor and high expectation that will be supported in part with instruction in science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- the STEM subjects, the charter application states.
Computer coding, vocation exploration and athletics will also be a part of the school, as will dividing students into "houses" to create smaller communities and a sense of family within the school. The houses will be the House of Timon, which is Greek for respect; the House of Kuumba, which is Swahili for creativity; the House of Juntos, which is Spanish for unity; and the House of Diwali, which is Hindu for light, knowledge and wisdom.
BENTONVILLE
The Hope Academy of Northwest Arkansas would serve a total of 70 children in grades kindergarten through six, starting with 40 children in kindergarten through third grade in the first school year, 2020-21, at 14100 Vaughn Road, Bentonville.
Jake Gibbs is listed as the contact for the proposed charter school's sponsoring entity: Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter. Maury Peterson is listed on the application as the chief operating officer of the school that seeks to provide for children who are coping with trauma.
The school's services would be in the categories of social and emotional development, family services and academics.
In the area of social and emotional development, school staff members would be trained and certified in trust-based relational intervention. In the family services category the school, if approved, would conduct home visits as a way to build partnerships with the families, determine wraparound services to support the children and their families, and encourage parents to participate in training on matters such as child behavior management.
"Hope Academy will operate on its own campus, where children would avoid the stigma associated with localized classrooms or schools identified as alternative," the application states. "Private transportation, free hot breakfast, one-on-one on-site counseling and highly individualized instruction will all be the norm, not the exception.
"The small class size would afford every student the individualized attention needed to develop coping skills, anger management, and healthy emotional responses to adverse circumstances in an environment that stimulates healthy brain development," the application also states.
LITTLE ROCK
The proposed Keyper Academy of Excellence would serve 600 students in kindergarten through 12th grade at a yet to be determined site within the city of Little Rock.
Karolyn Taylor of Maumelle is listed as the director of the proposed school and the primary contact for the school's sponsoring entity: My Sisters Keyper, Inc.
"Our campus concentration centers on education, empowerment, employment and entrepreneurship," the application states. "Through a student-centered exploratory teaching method, students learn through hands-on teacher and student and student-led experiences steeped within community involvement."
The school application also states that the purpose of the school "is to close the education gap between ethnicities and socio-economic levels by providing culturally appropriate and competent educational curricula and methods that meet students where they are."
WINSLOW
The proposed Winslow Community School would serve a maximum of 260 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, starting with kindergarten through sixth grade in the first year of operation.
The school would be located at 396 E. Van Buren Drive in Winslow within the boundaries of the former Winslow School District that became part of the Greenland School District in 2004.
Pamela Center is the contact for the Winslow Community Center Association that is sponsoring the proposed charter school.
The plan for the school calls for a strong emphasis on academics and developing productive citizens.
"The Winslow Community School will emphasize our rural roots and encourage students to embrace their heritage of self sufficiency by combining the agricultural and technical skills of their ancestors with the technology of the future," the application states.
Programs in agriculture, plant and animal sciences, forestry and food services are planned, as are partnerships with local farmers, foresters and artisans who would serve as mentors and provide internships to the students..
There were three letters of intent to apply for state charters that were sent to the Arkansas Department of Education earlier this year but were not followed by applications. The three that did not produce applications -- Arkansas Academy of Excellence at Eudora Charter School, Bridge 2 Success Middle School of Little Rock and Democracy Prep of Little Rock -- included the only proposal by an out-of-state charter-school management organization.
Democracy Prep Public Schools Inc. of New York City operates 21 public charter schools, serving more than 6,500 students in Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Metro on 05/04/2019